


home sweet homepage

by submarinebunny



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Lowercase, M/M, Misunderstandings, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-27 21:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19798195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/submarinebunny/pseuds/submarinebunny
Summary: dongyoung finds an intruder in his netflix account and takes it upon himself to figure out who is watching a baking show through his profile[prompt #N-56]





	home sweet homepage

dongyoung would consider himself a pretty generous person. he constantly donated to animal shelters and other non-profit organizations, he absolutely loved gifting people on their birthdays, and he even shared his netflix account with both his younger brother, jeno, and his best friend, johnny. he made a decent amount of money as an interior designer, more than enough to cover his expenses, so he really didn’t mind sharing the account, especially since he would be paying it for himself anyways. he knew jeno also let his boyfriend, donghyuck, use the account, but donghyuck was a nice kid, so dongyoung turned a blind eye to that. the one rule he made sure everyone followed when it came to the account, however, was that they kept separate profiles so that the suggestions would not get all mixed up. dongyoung usually stuck with watching random documentaries and pieces on architecture and design, and he knew jeno and johnny had vastly different preferences. the last thing he needed was for the algorithm not to display a new design series in lieu of some american rom-com or a new anime series, or worse - for someone to start watching “property brothers” through his profile and erase his progress.

their agreement worked out perfectly for the nearly three years since dongyoung shared his password with the other two, even with donghyuck unofficially joining them for the last seven months or so, which is why dongyoung was very surprised to open his account one day, looking for some relaxation with a small property brothers binge-watching session, and see a new show added to the recently watched list. to make matters worse, it was the bane of dongyoung’s existence - a baking reality show. he absolutely hated those, because they always made him hungry and craving these impossible desserts. he needed to fix that as soon as possible, before whoever used his profile made an even bigger mess, so he ditched his relaxing evening for some suspect interrogation.

the first two suspects were his parents - jeno still lived with them, so it was possible one of the two had accidentally opened netflix on the tv and clicked the wrong buttons on the remote, as they hadn’t quite figured out every functionality of their brand new smart tv. then, there was johnny. out of the other three people who regularly used the account, johnny was by far the most likely to have watched “sugar rush”. the newspaper editor had been nurturing a crush on their food columnist for quite a while now, and dongyoung knew he was looking for ways to impress his love interest, so maybe johnny had accidentally clicked on the wrong profile and watched the show without realizing it. as far as dongyoung knew, jeno was also not a fan of cooking shows, but his brother could be quite a charade at times, so he definitely was still on the suspect list. and if none of them were guilty, dongyoung would have to discuss the rules with donghyuck once and for all.

the first order of business was interrogating his parents, which was supposed to be a quite straightforward task. a simple phone call would do, really - all he had to say was “hey mom, did you open netflix by accident? hey dad, did you end up watching a baking show out of nowhere?” and he’d get his answers. dongyoung grossly miscalculated how long the call would last, however, since he forgot to add the “parent” factor to the equation. A five minute check up call turned into a 47-minute-long video chat, complete with “you should call more often!”, “what have you been eating lately? you look so skinny! open up your fridge, let me see if you’re taking good care of yourself!”, “did you hear the rumor about that old lady from down the street? everyone is talking about it!” and “donghyuck is such a lovely boy! he makes jeno so happy! i can’t wait for the day in which you find someone like that for you!”. It was so much to take in that dongyoung forgot the reason why he had called in the first place, having to make a follow-up call to ask about “sugar rush”. at least he managed to cross two suspects off the list, which meant 40% of it was taken care of. he now had johnny, jeno and donghyuck, but those three would have to wait until the next day. as much as dongyoung knew his parents were only looking after him out of love, all that talking had made him even more exhausted. he had no energy left to do anything other than watching his beloved property brothers and falling asleep.

dongyoung knew the phone call to johnny would be just as tiring as the one to his parents, but for a completely different reason. explaining the situation to johnny would entail bringing up his long-lasting crush on jung jaehyun, renowned food critic and johnny’s co-worker. dongyoung simply couldn’t understand how johnny suh, fancy newspaper editor, sexy and knows it, mr. confidence himself, kept pining over jaehyun and refusing to do anything about it. but no, instead of asking him out on a date, he just kept daydreaming about the so-called food adventures they would go on together and then telling dongyoung all about them. yeah, johnny was definitely a plausible suspect for watching “sugar rush”, which left dongyoung no choice but to face the heart-eyed beast. after the usual pleasantries of “how’s work?” coming from either side, with johnny once again gushing about how good jaehyun looks in a shirt and tie ensemble and some other, more graphic comments about the tie, dongyoung took a deep breath and asked:

“so, have you watched anything good lately?”

“oh, yeah! there’s this really cute youtube channel that’s centered around a puppy and it’s the most adorable thing! it’s a golden retriever - you know, sometimes it reminds me of jaehyun because it’s just so cute!”

“how typical of you…”

“no, seriously, dons, it’s the cutest thing ever! i’ll send you the link later, you have to see for yourself!”

“fine, fine. what about netflix? anything good on there?”

“nah, i haven’t really had the time to watch a movie lately, or even a series. anything over 15 minutes is way too long for me. things have been kinda hectic at work, like i said, so when i get home i just wanna eat, shower and sleep. why’d you ask?”

“oh, you know… just… looking for recommendations…”

“from me?”

“well, you never know… your newspaper does have a cultural section, so…”

“right! i can ask renjun if you want?”

“you know what? don’t worry, i’ll find something on my own.”

“are you sure?”

“yeah, yeah, there’s no need to bother the poor intern, johnny, i’ll figure something out.”

“alright, then! i’ll send you the link to the puppy channel!”

so johnny was a dead end. great. that left him lovebirds #1 and #2. jeno would be relatively easy to reach - all dongyoung had to do was to give him a call and ask him about it, but if jeno said he wasn’t the one to do it, they would finally need to discuss the donghyuck situation. it was pretty late already, and dongyoung had an appointment with a client early in the morning, so he decided to wait until he was free from work the next day to call his brother.

when he left the meeting that morning, however, there was a message from jeno waiting for him. apparently donghyuck had forgotten part of a project they had to present that evening in his home, and since both boys had a full day of classes before that, jeno asked dongyoung if he could pick it up and bring it to their university campus. according to the text, donghyuck’s brother would be home to let him in, but since he didn’t have a car and dongyoung worked near the campus, dongyoung was the best option to help them.

he decided to go at once, since he had some time to kill before his next appointment, which would only be after lunch, and donghyuck’s house wasn’t that far from where he currently was; he had been there a few times giving jeno and/or donghyuck rides, but he’d never actually been inside. he didn’t even know donghyuck had a brother before reading jeno’s text, so he had no idea what he was like or what his name was. he rang the doorbell while mentally preparing for what could be a rather awkward conversation, and before he knew it, it opened to reveal another man, slightly shorter than him, who seemed to have come out of one of those anime shows jeno loved so much. his caramel brown hair was falling on his forehead in a casual way, and his eyes were kind and soft and round. dongyoung only snapped out of his reverie when the man spoke to him in a sweet voice.

“hi! how can i help you?”

“hi! uh, donghyuck sent me? i’m supposed to pick up their project.”

“oh, you must be jeno’s brother! come in! it’s so nice to meet you! i’m taeyong, donghyuck’s brother!” dongyoung wasn’t usually a fan of people who managed to be cheery before 11 a.m., but for some reason it made the man - taeyong - even more likeable.

“uh, yeah, i’m dongyoung. it’s nice to meet you too.”

“can you believe we’ve never met? the kids have been together for what, 7 months now? here, take a seat! would you like something to drink? have you had breakfast already? i was about to make myself a cup of tea, i can make it for the both of us if you’d like some!”

“i have, yes, thank you. some tea would be nice, though, if you don’t mind.”

“of course! i’ll be right over. make yourself at home!” dongyoung used his time alone in the living room to process what had just happened. apparently, donghyuck’s brother was not only incredibly good-looking, but also kind and friendly. he really did seem like an anime character.

when taeyong returned with a tray and their teas, they engaged in small talk. dongyoung talked about his job and, in return, learned that taeyong was a marine biologist working in the city aquarium; jeno and donghyuck were lucky that today was his day off, or they would have to pick the project up themselves. taeyong explained that while he focused his studies in sea animals, he loved all kinds of animals, from bugs to large mammals. dongyoung noticed how his eyes kept shining as he kept talking about it, so he kept on asking questions, even though he wasn’t that much of an animal fan himself. once dongyoung admitted he had never been to the aquarium, taeyong then proceeded to scooch closer to dongyoung on the couch so he could show him pictures of the animals, fawning over every single one of them as if they were his children. dongyoung found it adorable.

“i actually have one of these as a pet!” taeyong said once they reached the pictures of the fiddler crab tank. “he had an injury in his claw and we knew he wouldn’t survive in the tank, so i brought him home! do you wanna meet him?” and that’s how dongyoung ended up in taeyong’s bedroom, looking at sunset, the crab.

“his claw is really big!”

“yeah, i’ve taken care of it and it got better as he grew, but it was really bad when he was a baby. it’s still a little small for his age, though - you should see the other crabs at the aquarium! i often think pictures don’t do them justice, you know?”

“i think you finally convinced me to visit the aquarium… it’s a shame i won’t have you there to give me random facts on the animals, though.”

“i mean… we could go together, if you want?”

“oh, i wouldn’t want to bother you! you already work there, i’m sure you have better things to do in your free time than guiding me through your workplace…”

“no, i mean it! i love talking about them, but everyone i know had either already heard everything or doesn’t really care for it…” dongyoung thought he had heard a slight sadness in taeyong’s usually happy tone. “plus, i think it would be nice to spend some time with you…” he said, in a voice so small dongyoung would have missed had he not been paying attention to all things taeyong since they had met at the front door.

“i would like to spend some time with you too, taeyong.” he said, looking up from the tank with a soft smile.

“you would?” taeyong’s voice was higher than usual.

“yeah. it doesn’t have to be, you know, a date, if you don’t want it to, but-”

“i want it to!”

“oh. uh, great, i, uh, i want it to as well.” dongyoung cleared his throat. “uh, before we forget, i should take the boys’ project, though.”

“right! yeah, that’s why you’re here! wait here, i’ll go get it for you!”

as dongyoung waited for taeyong to return, he took a look around his bedroom - his designer self couldn’t help it. it was incredibly neat, with picture frames in one wall showing taeyong, donghyuck and their parents, people dongyoung assumed to be his friends and even some of the animals from the aquarium. on another wall, there was a tv, and it immediately caught dongyoung’s eye. it looked like taeyong was watching a baking show when dongyoung arrived, as the paused scene was of a cake being frosted.

“do you like ‘sugar rush’ too?” taeyong said as he re-entered the room.

“oh, i’m not much of a cooking show guy. they always make me hungry.”

“me too! but i love trying out the recipes! plus, now jeno and donghyuck let me use their netflix account in exchange for baked goods, so it’s a win-win situation!”

“jeno and donghyuck?”

“yeah! i was talking to them last weekend about subscribing to netflix, but they told me i could use theirs if i let them be my baking lab rats! i think they share it with someone else, though, because there are three profiles! clearly ‘nono’ is jeno and ‘dons’ is donghyuck, but ‘j’... i don’t know, maybe it’s their friend jaemin…”

“did they tell you they were ‘nono’ and ‘dons’?”

“no, i just guessed it! why?”

“so you’ve been watching that show as ‘dons’?”

“yeah, i don’t want to mess up the recommendations for jeno! although i must admit i never thought hyuckie would be a ‘property brothers’ fan…”

“yeah, he probably isn’t!”

“oh, but he’s been watching it!”

“actually, he hasn’t! that’s my netflix account, taeyong. i’m ‘dons’, my friend johnny is ‘j’, and jeno is ‘nono’, which is also the profile donghyuck uses, since they both think i don’t know donghyuck has been using it.”

“so i was using your profile?”

“yep.”

“oh my god, i’m so, so sorry, dongyoung! i had no idea! if i had known, i definitely wouldn’t have used it! i would have set up my own account!”

“it’s okay, you didn’t know!”

“i promise i’ll make it up to you, okay?”

“you really don’t have to, taeyong, it was an honest mistake…”

“i promise! now give me your number so we can go on that date!”

they ended up going to the aquarium two days later, not before dongyoung sat down with jeno and donghyuck to discuss their little trick, of course. as much as he could understand the reasoning of getting free food, it wasn’t fair of them to lie to taeyong, and dongyoung made sure to tell them so. when saturday came around, though, all was well - dongyoung and taeyong had a lovely time at the aquarium, and seeing taeyong shine as he talked about the animals made dongyoung even more enamoured with him. as dongyoung went to drop taeyong off, taeyong invited him over for his own version of netflix and chill - binge-watching “sugar rush” and cuddling with taeyong’s new shark plushie, bought at the aquarium by doyoung, before trying to recreate the desserts themselves. the show still made dongyoung hungry, but this time he had taeyong’s kisses to keep him satisfied.

**Author's Note:**

> dear prompter, i'm sorry if this is not what you had in mind! i did struggle a bit with this fic as i was writing it, and i'm not entirely happy with how it turned out :/  
> if any of you made it this far, thanks for reading it! please let me know your thoughts in the comment section ^-^  
> lastly, thank you mods for organizing the fest and for being so kind!


End file.
